Why are elephants poor dancers?
Because they have 2 left feet.

What is 2 feet long, has 32 eyes and 2 tongues?
An elephant’s sneakers.

What is as big as an elephant, but weighs nothing?
An elephant’s shadow.

Life at Chateau Chaos is still under construction, so rather than moan on about things not going as they should (like not having any hot water), I’m going to leave you with a few hardy-har-har jokes and wish you a good day.

What’s the difference between a pickle and an elephant?
A pickle always forgets.

What’s the difference between a sneezing elephant and a spy?
Nothing: they’ve both got a code in their trunk.

Can an elephant jump higher than a lamp-post?
Yes: lamp-posts can’t jump.

What do you get if you cross a zebra with an elephant?
A traffic jam.

What do you get if you cross an elephant with a biscuit?
Crumbs.

Over three hours trekking in the rain and high winds yesterday because my dearly beloved took both sets of both car keys to work without letting me know. That sinus infection I’ve been fighting off has been joined by some other germy friends. I’m going to do like a turtle and pull my head into my shell for a little while.

And then I heard from Annemarie about her dad.

And then Niek came home with more work-related woes.

By 8 pm I was in my flannel PJs and longing for bed. Here’s hoping that Tuesday will shape up better.

This will be the busiest week before our departure. There are several appointments to bid farewell to dear friends, flu shots to be had, sports and activities for the kids, and then this weekend we’ll have the chaos of the final packing. Yikes, huh? But for some reason, this morning has gotten off to a slow, easy-going start. Arden and I are enjoying each other’s company while outside the wind howls and rain pelts down. At breakfast, Rowen told us all the most imaginative story about her experiences skateboarding with our cat and some time-traveling dinosaurs.  I should finish up the finishing on my ornament exchange and get that posted out nice & early. I should also do some housework. But maybe first, I’ll just enjoy a few more pages in the crime thriller I’m reading.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Today we enjoyed having Niek’s family over. His sister and three brothers, two nephews and a niece, sisters-in-law and brother-in-law (almost, LOL), mother & father, and grandmother all came to wish us well on our upcoming move. There was good food to eat, nice things to drink, and excellent company all around.

Enjoyed a fine evening with good friends. We have daughters nearly the same age, and as you can see, they got on very well together. I hope your weekend has also been brightened by some tiny treasures.

Last night Gilbert went to his new home. It is the hardest thing I’ve had to do in regard to our move to Maine, and honestly I’m just broken up over it.  How could such a small green body leave behind such an enormous void??

I liked that design by Isabelle Vautier so much that I stitched a small section of it last night to use as a seasonal ornament.

Not much has been going on that makes for an interesting blog post. It’s been really busy and having the kids ill feels like someone’s tied my hands behind my back. I know it’ll get done, but it will also be such a relief to have this behind us. Last night, Niek started the paperwork for our shipment of belongings (Monique, it’s going by ship over the Atlantic) and became convined that we’d be hit by import tax for it all. Groan. The expenses keep mounting, despite our attempts to find the most inexpensive solutions.

Oh well, the sun has tried to come out today and Rowen felt well enough to try going to school for the last two hours this afternoon. I hope you’re keeping healthy and enjoying some sunlight.

I had a great time chatting online with an old friend on Facebook last night; the downside being that I didn’t do any stitching. LOL. When I finally called it a night, the thought was running through my head, ‘What on earth will I blog about tomorrow?’ After spending all my time in the company of sick kids, I was sure there was nothing to talk about.

But then I got up to this spectacular show from Mother Nature. This picture isn’t edited – that was really what the sky looked like during breakfast this morning. Incredible, huh?

And these were the not-quite-so-sick monkeys I had breakfast with.

Actually, as you can see by this picture snapped before bedtime yesterday, Arden’s mostly recovered. Mozart’s got nothing on him, huh?

Then when I opened my computer, I found that Kirsten has started the biweekly challenge at the Gift of Stitching blog. Go look! Join in!

And for those who just llloooovvve Isa Vautier’s amazing designs (and is there anyone who doesn’t?), go over here to look at an amazing SAL you can join in.

Looks like Wednesday might not be such a bad day after all.

One of the nice things about new-to-me blog readers is getting questions about annual events that I’ve explained before. Each time I explain something, I also understand it a little bit better myself. Every year, I get questions about Sinterklaas and every year I feel I’ve come a little bit closer to understanding the tradition properly.

(This post shows pictures of us on Saturday evening celebrating Sinterklaas’ arrival in the Netherlands – singing, setting out the shoes, leaving carrots for Sinterklaas’ horse, and just being silly.)

Here in the Netherlands, it’s traditional to give holiday gifts (particularly to children) around this time of year in association with the Sinterklaas legend. Many families do not give gifts on Christmas day; instead that’s a day to spend with family, observing religious practices, or simply enjoying a few days off (because here there are two days of Christmas!). Sinterklaas arrives in the Netherlands about three weeks before 5 December on a steamboat that’s travelled from his headquarters in Spain. This is called his intocht, or arrival, and there are parades and all sorts of fun to be enjoyed during the special day. During the weeks before 5 December, he and his helpers (Zwarte Pieten) are visible all over the place – kids can pose with Sinterklaas to ask for their heart’s desire (much like Santa Claus in a mall) and the antics of the Zwarte Pieten are always good for a laugh. At night, kids can set a shoe out to be filled during the night with candy or small toys. Our kids, who also celebrate an American-style Christmas, don’t get to set their shoes out that often – we’d be overrun by the bounty of the season, or in the poor house! The fun and activity build up to the Big Event on 5 December, pakjesavond,  when Sinterklaas and his helpers go house-to-house with surprise gifts and edible treats. Everyone celebrates this a little differently, but in our house we sing very loudly before bedtime and our songs let Sinterklaas know we’re ready. There’ll be a bang and a crash and somehow one of our doors will fly open and a sack of gifts will sail into our midst with lots of cookies and treats scattering around. By the time we have a chance to react, there’s no one to be seen because Sinterklaas has a lot of houses to visit before the evening is done and time is of the essence. (We are so grateful to our wonderful neighbors for their annual assistance!)

There’s also a tradition of creating a surprise gift with a poem about the recipient, but because our kids are still fairly young, we don’t often try this. For some tidbits on the history and customs of Sinterklaas, this website has some different information, though I can’t vouch for its accuracy.  A more complete story can be found here.

I’d hoped to do lots of stitching while I was without a ‘puter, and it was actually a very productive period – I not only did some stitching but I also did some designing and writing. All on paper, so now I have the joy of putting it on the ‘puter, but hey, no one said life was perfect. LOL. Here are the three ornaments I stitched on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All are stitched on 36 ct white HDF linen using Vikki’s silks in my choice of colors (but selected to resemble the models).

On a less happy note, the Bug returned during this period, too and both Arden and Rowen are once again ill. My poor babies. I’d so gladly absorb it from them, be sick in their places, if only such a thing were possible. Arden, as I type this, seems to be on the mend again but it appears that Rowen will be spending several more days at home with mama.

There was also the excitement of Sinterklaas making his appearance in the Netherlands, but I’ll save something for tomorrow’s post. Thanks for continuing to visit with me despite a few days of rather dry posts. To those who enjoyed the poem yesterday, thanks for commenting. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I do love the way a finely-wrought poem gets me thinking … and then keeps me thinking.

Take care, all. Stay healthy!